Advanced Sheet Metal Design Using NX Cad Challenge_1_Casing Design
- DESIGN OF SHEETMETAL CASING
- Objective- The main objective of the Project is to design the ‘Sheetmetal Casing’ using SIEMENS NX CAD.
- Introduction- The designing of the Casing is done with the help of 3D CAD software NX CAD by Siemens. This software uses familiar technology and workflows & provides a complete set of tools to efficiently create the desired models.
In NX CAD, we have used Sheetmetal application. This application provides an environment for the design of sheet metal parts which are used in machinery, automotive, aerospace etc. NX sheet metal Design tools incorporate material & bending information, enabling the model to represent both the formed component & flattened blank shapes. Our model is created in ‘.prt’ extension.
Fundamental terminology related to Sheetmetal designing-
Bending- It is a process in which a force is applied to sheel metal at a particular direction which causes it to bend at an angle and form the desired shape.
Bend radius- The distance from the bend axis to the inside surface of the material between the bend lines.
Bend line- The straight line on the surface of the sheet, on either side of the bend that defines the end level of the flange & start of the bend.
Bend angle- The angle of the bend measured between the bent flange & its original position.
Bend relief- When sheet metal makes a transition from a bend to a flat surface, or to another bend, it tends to rip and tear. To eliminate this, a bend relief is added so the edge of the sheet metal is perpendicular to the bend.
Bend height- The sheet metal bending height should be at least 2 times the thickness of the sheet metal plus the bending radius, that is, H ≥ 2t + R.
K-Factor- It is the ratio of the neutral axis to the material thickness. When metal is bent the top section is going to undergo compression and the bottom section will be stretched. The line where the transition from compression to stretching occurs is called the neutral axis.
- Design methodology-
- Description of Tools/ Features used in designing Casing-
Sheetmetal Preferences- Sets parameters & characteristics for Sheetmetal commands.
Tab- Creates a base feature by extruding a sketch along a vector by a thickness value or adds material to a planar face.
Normal cutout- Cuts material by projecting a sketch onto a model & them cutting perpendicular to the face intersected by projections.
Bend- Modifies the model by bending material on one side of a sketch line, adding a bend between two sides.
Flanges- Adds a flat flange at an angle to a planar face & adds the bend between two.
Break Corners- Rounds a sharp corner of a tab or flange.
Unbend- Flattens a bend and add material adjacent to the bend.
Holes- Adds a hole to one or more solid bodies in a part.
Dimple- Lifts an area of the model inside a sketch that simulates a stamping tool.
Studio spline- Dynamically creates & edits splines by dragging defining points or poles & assigning slopes & curvature constraints at defining points.
Beads- Lifts material along the contour of a edge that simulates a stamping tool.
Mirror feature- Copies a feature & mirror it across a plane.
Rebend- Restores an unbend feature to its previous bend state, along with any features added after unbend feature.
- Various views of Sheetmetal Casing-
- Front View
- Side View
- Isometric View
- Top View
- Bottom View
- Detailed drawing sheet:
- Conclusion:
- Hence, Sheetmetal Casing is designd successfully using NX CAD.
- We have also learned & applied the fundamental features of NX Sheet metal environment like creating Sketch, Tab, Flanges, Cutout, Bead, Bend, Rebend, Flat pattern etc.